B Scene Magazine

500 Days of Summer on DVD

2009-12-23T22:56:00.000-06:00

Jacket: "In this quirky romantic comedy about love and fate, a young greeting card writer (Joseph-Gordon Levitt) is hopelessly, helplessly searching for the girl of his dreams ... and his new co-worker, Summer Finn (Zooey Deschanel), may just be "the one." But the 500 days of their offbeat relationship reveal (in no particular order) that the road to happiness can be unpredictable, uncontrollable - and unbelievably funny!"

For those of you who are single, this film will make you laugh, sigh and come just short of slitting your wrists. Only because you can associate with Tom on some level. Been there, done that. You feel his angst. You feel his aggravation. Don't worry, it'll leave you with a measure of hope at the end.

District 9 Now on DVD

2009-12-23T22:42:00.000-06:00

One of the best films of the year!

Buy it! Rent it! See it!

Jacket: "From producer Peter Jackson and director Neil Blomkamp comes a startlingly original science-fiction thriller that "soars on the imagination of its creators". With stunning special effects and gritty realism, the film plunges us into a world where the aliens have landed ... only to be exiled to a slum on the fringes of Johannesburg. Now, one lone human discovers the mysterious secret of the extraterrestial weapon technology. Hunted and hounded through the bizarre back alleys of an alien shantytown, he will discover what it means to be the ultimate outsider on your own planet."

The Cove on DVD

2009-12-17T22:19:00.000-06:00

A phenomenal and daring documentary. In Taiji, Japan, 23,000 dolphins are slaughtered every year. Rick Barry, Simon Hutchins and associates go in guerrila-warfare style to collect live evidence for the first time and expose Japan's dirty, little secret.

Activist Rick Barry is a rock star! You feel the weight of his guilt, having introduced the world to "Flipper", but also the strength of his conviction to save dolphins.

I may never go to Sea World or a dolphin park ever again. Did you know they feed them Maalox and antacids to them because they have ulcers from all the stress of captivity?

Warning: It will be gut-wrenching to watch them trapped and attacked and to see the cove become a blanket of red.

"The Taiji dolphin slaughter is scheduled to resume every September. Unless we stop it."

Maybe Douglas Adams had it right and we'll not know of our short-sightedness until we hear their parting words as they flee our puny planet.

"So long, and thanks for all the fish."

http://www.TakePart.com/TheCove

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince on DVD

2009-12-08T17:59:00.000-06:00

Jacket: "As Lord Voldemort tightens his grip on both the Muggle and wizarding worlds, Hogwarts is no longer a safe haven. Harry suspects perils may even lie within the castle, but Dumbledore is more intent upon preparing him for the final battle fast approaching. Together they work to find the key to unlock Voldemort's defenses and to this end, Dumbledore recruits his old friend and colleague Horace Slughorn, who he believes holds crucial information. Even as the decisive showdown looms, romance blossoms for Harry, Ron, Hermione and their classmates. Love is in the air, but danger lies ahead and Hogwarts may never be the same again."

The adventure continues!

In the Loop on DVD

2009-12-06T08:23:00.000-06:00

Jacket: "Peter Capaldi stars as the foul-mouthed British government spokesman who must act quickly when a mid-level minister (Tom Hollander) tells an interviewer that U.S. war in the Middle East is "unforeseeable." But when they are both summoned to Washington D.C.. the hapless politico quickly becomes a pawn of the bureaucrats, spin doctors and military advisors, including a hard-nosed General (James Gandolfini)."

This was hilarious! Capaldi is a riot and makes swearing an art form! I needed a funny film after just seeing a snoozer and this hit the mark.

G.I. Joe: Rise of the Cobra on DVD

2009-12-01T19:24:00.007-06:00

I blame being trapped on a plane for 9 hours and having seen all the other films showing for subjugating my eyes to this. Why did it have to be soooooo cheesy?!

paranormal activity

2009-11-21T16:50:00.007-06:00

Uh, I thought this would be scarier.

Bina's reaction was best: "That was it?!"

the ugly truth on DVD

2009-11-14T09:11:00.000-06:00

Jacket: "Katherine Heigl and Gerard Butler star in this wildly funny battle of the sexes from director Robert Luketic (Legally Blonde). Abby (Heigl), a successful morning show producer, is looking for a lot in a man. Mike (Butler), her obnoxious TV star, knows men only want one thing. Determined to prove that she's not romantically challenged, Abby takes Mike's advice during a promising new romance, but the unexpected results will stun everyone."

I don't know about "wildly funny", but I did crack up several times watching this. And I had to watch it a second time. Check it out.

The Accidental Husband on DVD

2009-11-12T19:57:00.005-06:00

Jacket: "Firefighter Patrick Sullivan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) finds his life turned upside-down when his fiancee suddenly calls off their pending nuptials per the recommendation of radio love guru Dr. Emma lloyd (Uma Thurman). Determined to get back at this "love doctor," Sullivan forges a fake marriage license, "accidentally" marrying him to Emma, who's already engaged to Richard (Colin Firth).

But as Patrick's charms begin to wear Emma down, she must decide which of these bachelors is her "Mr. Right." Also starring Sam Shepard, Justina Machado and Isabella Rossellini ..."

I really had high hopes for this film, but I just didn't find it that funny.

Disneynature earth on DVD

2009-11-10T19:31:00.000-06:00

Jacket: "An epic story of adventure, starring some of the most magnificent and courageous creatures alive, awaits you in earth. Disneynature brings you a remarkable story of three animal families on a journey across our planet - polar bears, elephants and humpback whales. Filmed with spectacular clarity and beauty, earth is both majestic and intimate as it captures rare footage of nature's wildest and most elusive animals. From the landmark Disneynature collection, earth is an astonishing and heartwarming film filled with adventure, suspense and humor that will take your breath away."

I agree with this description. This is such a beautiful film to watch AND experience. And of course, it is wonderfully narrated by James Earl Jones.

I think my favorite scenes involved birds. They were a crack up!

Don't worry, it's rated G for the kids so you won't be seeing what happens when animals really attack.

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen on DVD

2009-11-01T14:41:00.000-06:00

Jacket: "When college-bound Sam Witwicky (Shia LeBeouf) learns the truth about the ancient origins of the Transformers, he must accept his destiny abd join Optimus Prime and Bumblebee in their epic battle against the Decepticons, who have returned stronger than ever with a plan to destroy our world."

My 13-year-old cousins will like this one, especially with the annoyingly forced relationship angle they strove for. Eh, I found the new sarcastic bots pretty funny.

The Wind that Shakes the Barley (2006)

2009-11-01T13:59:00.000-06:00

Wikipedia: "The Wind That Shakes the Barley is a 2006 Ken Loach film set during the Irish War of Independence (1919–21) and the Irish Civil War (1922–3). Written by long-time Loach collaborator Paul Laverty, this drama tells the story of two County Cork brothers, played by Cillian Murphy and Pádraic Delaney, who join the Irish Republican Army to fight for Irish independence from Great Britain.

Widely praised, the film won the Palme d'Or at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival. Loach's biggest box office success to date,^[1] the film did well around the world and set a record in Ireland as the highest-grossing Irish-made independent film ever.^[2]"

^{This was very good and very educational for those of us across the pond.}

Battlestar Galactica: The Plan on DVD

2009-10-29T19:49:00.000-05:00

Jacket: "The Cylons began as humanity's robot servants. They rebelled and evolved and now they look like us. Their plan is simple: destroy the race that enslaved them. But when their devastating attack leaves human survivors, the Cylons have to improvise. Battlestar Galactica: The Plan tells the story of two powerful Cylon leaders, working separately and their determination to finish the task."

We get most of the answers we were looking for here. Frackin cool.

If you are new to the series. Get on it! You've got four years to catch up. It'll be interesting to watch this series again the AFTER watching this film.

Law Abiding Citizen

2009-10-25T21:43:00.003-05:00

This movie was soooo kick-ass. Gerard Butler plays a Law Abiding Citizen whose his family gets murdered. When the attackers brook a deal, he takes matters into his own hands.

Although I enjoyed the action-filled build-up, the ending just kind of fizzled.

This is definitely worth seeing in the theater.

The Proposal on DVD

2009-10-22T22:44:00.000-05:00

Jacket: "On the verge of being deported and losing the high-powered job she lives for, the controlling Margaret (Bullock) announces she's engaged to her unsuspecting, put-upon assistant Andrew (Ryan Reynolds). After proposing a few demands of his own, the mismatched couple heads to Alaska, where they have four short days to convince his quirky family and a very skeptical immigration agent that their charade is real."

Although overly predictable, I didn't hate this film ... in large part due to the talented supporting cast. Betty White is a scene stealer. She's still got it! This film is rentable for a very lazy Sunday afternoon at home on the couch.

Ghosts of Girlfriends Past on DVD

2009-10-12T23:01:00.000-05:00

Jacket: "Connor Mead is the kind of guy who dumps three girldfriends. At the same time. By teleconference. So when he attends his brother's wedding he has a single goal: score with the only bridesmaid he somehow missed. But the ghost of his departed Uncle Wayne - who taught him to love 'em and leave 'em - has another goal in mind: restore Connor's lost faith in true love, a tough assignment requiring the services of many, many Ghosts of Girlfriends Past. [Starring] Matthew McConaughey, Jennifer Garner and Michael Douglas."

I wasn't impressed by the forced similarity to "A Christmas Carol". McConaughey seems to play the same kind of character in every film. Snoooooozer!

Year One on DVD

2009-10-10T14:53:00.006-05:00

Yahoo Movies: "When a couple of lazy hunter-gatherers are banished from their primitive village, they set off on an epic journey through the ancient world."

This was stupid ... and not in the good way. I think I fell asleep after 20 minutes.

The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly

2009-10-05T19:26:00.004-05:00

Jacket: "NYT best-selling author John Connolly ... examines the grin side of fairy tales in a spellbinding novel about a 12-year-old boy lost in an extraordinary world.
Mourning the loss of of his mother, David finds comfort in the books she left behind. But soon the make-believe world of the books melds with David's reality, and the figments of his imagination become startlingly real. Suddenly, he finds himself in a brutal land populated by trolls, harpies and werewolf-like creatures. His only hope is to find the king, whose Book of Lost Things could show David the way home.
... The Book of Lost Things is a riveting fantasy and a dark reminder that we all must brave the journey from youth to adulthood."

So I'm listening to this story while at work and I'm getting a little creeped out! I can't remember the last time a story did that to me. This is not your kid's Grimm fairy tale! READ THIS BOOK!

Patient Zero by Jonathan Maberry

2009-10-03T09:13:00.000-05:00

Jacket: "When you have to kill the same terrorist twice in one week, there's either something wrong with your world or something wrong with your skills ... and there's nothing wrong with Joe Ledger's skills. Ledger, a Baltimore detective assigned to a counterterrorism task force, is recruited by the government to lead a new ultrasecret rapid-response group called the Department of Military Science (DMS) to help stop a group of terrorists from releasing a dreadful bioweapon that can turn ordinary people into zombies."

Some whack critics think that this is a story that just happens to have zombies, and even if that is the case, it still reads like a good action film (which it very well could be). The zombie purists may have issue with this, but I really enjoyed it.

Yes Man on DVD

2009-10-02T15:58:00.000-05:00

Jacket: "Carl Allen has stumbled across a way to shake free of post-divorce blues and a dead-end job: embrace life and say yes to everything. Take a bungee plunge? Yes. Accept call-now TV offers. Yes ... Jim Carrey place Carl in a YEScapade about opening up to life's possibilities - especially when those possiblities include romance with an intriguing, free-spirited musician (Zooey Deschanel)."

This was mildly funny.

Confessions of a Shopaholic on DVD

2009-09-25T20:40:00.000-05:00

Jacket: "...Living in glamorous New York, Becky [Isla Fisher] desperately wants a job writing for a high-fashion magazine. She gets her stilettos in the door when she gets a job writing a personal finance column at a sister publication. Much to her surprise, her column not only becomes a hit, but she falls head over heels for her overworked yet handsome boss (Hugh Dancy). But Becky has a secret that leads to some hilarious high jinks that could unravel it all."

This was cute, but I never read the books.

Book of Fate by Brian Meltzer

2009-09-24T16:33:00.001-05:00

Jacket: " In Six minutes, one of us would be dead.

So says Wes Holloway, a once cocky and ambitious presidential aide, about the day that changed his life forever. On that Fourth of July, Wes put Ron Boyle, the chief executive's oldest friend, into the presidential limousine. By the time the trip came to an end, Wes was permanently disfigured, and Boyle was dead, the victim of a crazy assassin.

Eight years later, Boyle is spotted, alive and well, in Malaysia. In that moment, Wes has the chance to undo the worst day of his life. Trying to figure out what really happened takes Wes back to a decade-old presidential crossword puzzle, mysterious facts buried in Masonic history, and a two-hundred-year-old code invented by Thomas Jefferson.

But what Wes doesn't realize is that The Book of Fate holds everyone's secrets. Especially the ones worth dying for.

The Book of Fate. What does it say about you?"

This book was okay. I was expecting more of the Freemason story, but this is a story that just happens to have a Freemason reference.

Dog on It: A Chet & Bernie Mystery by Spencer Quinn

2009-09-23T19:31:00.021-05:00

I didn't think I could get into a book narrated by a police-academy-dropout dog, but the character is very endearing and then don't you know it, you want to find out how it ends.

PUBLISHER: "Meet Chet, the wise and lovable canine narrator of Dog on It, who works alongside Bernie, a down-on-his-luck private investigator. Chet might have flunked out of police school ("I'd been the best leaper in K-9 class, which had led to all the trouble in a way I couldn't remember exactly, although blood was involved"), but he's a detective through and through.

In this, their first adventure, Chet and Bernie investigate the disappearance of Madison, a teenage girl who may or may not have been kidnapped, but who has definitely gotten mixed up with some very unsavory characters. A well-behaved, gifted student, she didn't arrive home after school and her divorced mother is frantic. Bernie is quick to take the case -- something about a cash flow problem that Chet's not all that clear about -- and he's relieved, if vaguely suspicious, when Madison turns up unharmed with a story that doesn't add up. But when she disappears for a second time in a week, Bernie and Chet aren't taking any chances; they launch a full-blown investigation. Without a ransom demand, they're not convinced it's a kidnapping, but they are sure of one thing: something smells funny.

Their search for clues takes them into the desert to biker bars and other exotic locals, with Chet's highly trained nose leading the way. Both Chet and Bernie bring their own special skills to the hunt, one that puts each of them in peril. But even as the bad guys try to turn the tables, this duo is nothing if not resourceful, and the result is an uncommonly satisfying adventure.

With his doggy ways and his endearingly hardboiled voice, Chet is full of heart and occasionally prone to mischief. He is intensely loyal to Bernie, who, though distracted by issues that Chet has difficulty understanding -- like divorce, child custody, and other peculiar human concerns -- is enormously likable himself, in his flawed, all-too-human way."

Next Day Air on DVD

2009-09-20T20:46:00.009-05:00

Return to Sender! .... Don't bother with this one. All the funniest bits are in the trailer.

Jacket: "A haze-brained courier (Faison) sparks off a chain of uproarious events after he mistakenly delivers a package containing some high grade product to the wrong address and into the hands of two bumbling, wannabe gangsters (Epps and Harris). But these two fools have no clue that their neighbors down the hall - the real REAL gangster and his feisty girlfriend - are connected to the Mexican mob and will do whatever it takes to recover their package."

The Soloist on DVD

2009-09-16T19:29:00.010-05:00

This was very a very moving film. I recommend watching all the bonus features.

Wikipedia: "The Soloist is a 2009 drama film directed by Joe Wright, and starring Jamie Foxx and Robert Downey Jr. The screenplay by Susannah Grant is based on the book, The Soloist by Steve Lopez. The film is based on a true story of Nathaniel Ayers, a musician who develops schizophrenia and becomes homeless.

Foxx portrays Ayers, who is considered a cello prodigy, and Downey portrays Lopez, a Los Angeles Times columnist who discovers Ayers and writes about him in the newspaper"